Baratunde Rafiq Thurston (/ˌbærəˈtuːndeɪ/; born September 11, 1977) is an American writer, comedian, and commentator. Thurston co-founded the black political blog Jack and Jill Politics,[1] whose coverage of the 2008 Democratic National Convention was archived in the Library Of Congress,[2] and was director of digital for The Onion.[1] In 2012, his book How to be Black became a New York Times bestseller.[3]

His fourth book, entitled How to Be Black (HarperCollins ISBN 978-0-06-200321-8) was released on February 1, 2012, the first day of Black History Month, and is described as incorporating "satirical self-help" along with personal memoir, subjects from gardening to computers, and is "a practical guidebook for anyone looking to befriend or work with a black person, become the next black president or challenge anyone who says they speak for all black people".[5]